4th Annual BIP New Year’s Bash, 2007-2008

Texas Advantage 18 Asics Bring it USA Trip

Day One, 26/27 December (Dallas to Rome): 
Dani Alva and Jen Neice, DS and Libero

All nine of us arrived anxiously with our overweight luggage at the airport.  Our late departure from Dallas made it a 15 minute connection out of Chicago to Rome and we were worried we would miss the flight.  Arriving late in Chicago we sprinted from terminal H to K so we wouldn’t miss our 9 hour flight to Rome and barely made the final boarding call.

The flight seemed endless but with food, a little sleep and some pacing we made it to the end.  Arriving in Rome with blank stares we gazed upon signs written in different language we couldn’t understand.  Our bus with Tim Kelly as the tour guide was there waiting and we were off to Hotel Assissi, our home for two days.  We hoped to catch up on some sleep, but we soon found out that we were off touring for a few hours, followed by a match that evening.  We managed to get some great pictures at the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain and even were able to pick up some souvenirs.  One of our shop highlights was walking down the Rodeo Drive of Roma, Via Condotti.  At the Spanish Steps we split up to look around on our own meeting at the Trevi Fountain later.  We returned to the hotel to have our first local team meal in Roma and change for our evening match. 

We were picked up in a gigantic bus for an hour drive on what seemed like miniature streets.  We saw some great scenery as we wound our way up the mountains to a recreation center type building where we would have our first match.  One of the unusual things we noticed about the rec center was the bar attached where people could watch the match through glass while hanging out in the bar.

Our opponents for the evening were AS Fidia Cesano (a team of 22 to 25 year old Europeans that were tops in the B2 division).  We quickly learned that warm ups were different, technical time outs happen twice a match and sub rules were different than the US.  Our match lasted 4 games and the Europeans were excellent at reading blocks, finding every hole we left in the defense and serving incredibly tough balls.  Their main offense was at the pins and we scored reasonably well in the middle.  The ball was harder and slightly more difficult to control.  We were competitive but fell short in the end, but it was an introduction to European Volleyball against an excellent team.  We shook hands and took some combined team pictures and were off to a fun start.

Day Two December 28th (The Vatican, St. Peters, Coliseum, Pantheon) Dani and Jen

As we woke up bright and early thankful for a few hours of rest, we headed out to see what Rome had to offer.  I never would have thought anything could be worth standing in a freezing line for two hours, but the Vatican was well worth the wait.  From paintings to statues to tapestries we were in awe of art that was sometimes a thousand years old.  It seemed like we took hundreds of pictures (with us in each one) and finally we emerged into the Sistine Chapel which was an incredible and reverent site.  Then we were off to St. Peters Basilica where we started our pictures all over again.  While at St. Peters we saw the end of the line to get into the Vatican that must have stretched for a couple of miles.

For lunch we stopped in a typical Italian café and tried the local pizza and salad and were immediately on our way to see more sites.  Walking from the Vatican back towards the Coliseum we saw the Pantheon, the Galleria Borghese, and the National Museum, sights we had seen in pictures, books and movies.  We arrived at the Roman Forum slightly late due to our taking in every site along the way.  As we wound our way through the Forum area towards the Coliseum we heard we were 20 minutes late to get into the Forum.  We resorted to a combination of shameless flirting, groveling and bribes in order to persuade the guard to finally let us in.  We were blown away by this amazing structure that somehow is still standing after so many years.  The cold and the long walks were well worth the exciting sites we visited and all the girls and I enjoyed every minute.

Love to all….the back row!




Day Three December 29 (Rome to Venice) 
Jordan Raines, Outside Hitter

After a long night in Rome it was off to Venice, the glass capital of the world, via the bullet train.  We hiked with our luggage a couple of blocks and rushed with our entire luggage on the train along with a crowd of other people.  The ride at over a hundred miles per hour was still 4 hours but it was a great reprieve from all the walking we had been doing.  The cities we passed through were quite scenic and the landscape turned whiter and whiter as we neared Venice.  Once we arrived in Venice we immediately checked into the Hotel Regit, just a couple hundred meters from the train station.  Rodney Prater, our assistant coach, had a single room that he could spread his arms and touch both walls.

After getting our luggage to our room and picking up our cameras we set off to see Venice.  We took a public bus right to the edge of downtown Venice.  I’m not sure how they can get that many people on a single bus!  We spent the day enjoying the intricate streets and great architecture of the buildings as we wound our way through the city, shopping for incredible glass pieces and ending up on the Rialto Bridge, the bridge of sighs, but mostly of commerce.  Then we headed to the Piazza San Marcos where we could see the Doge Palace and a huge square filled with people shopping and still celebrating Christmas.  The most popular way of getting around other than walking was by gondola and there were thousands along the water front.  We were told it was impossible to get lost in Venice, but with the winding streets and unfamiliar signs, we proved this theory wrong!  We ended our Venice evening with a classic Italian dinner at Birraria and returned to our 10x10 rooms for a good nights rest.

Jordan Raines, The Front and Back Row!!

Day Four December 30th (Venice to Maribor) J
Shannon Hawari, Middle Blocker

We left Venice bright and early on a thrilling 4 ½ hour bus ride to Maribor, Slovenia.  As our driver put the pedal to the metal we sped by a lot of beautiful scenery, including mountains covered with more snow than most of us had seen before.  As we drove up we pulled into a ski lodge hotel that was at the bottom of a ski slope.  People were skiing, drinking warm drinks and sledding all over the area.  As soon as we carried all our bags up a couple of flights of stairs and checked into our rooms we had a team/family meal ready and we ate and headed to the gym, which was about 200 meters from the lodge we were staying.

This gym was particularly unique since it seems to be used mainly for games of badminton, and did I mention indoor soccer games as well.  Games were going on right next to our court during our match.  We had gotten the hang of the European warm up so we were ready to share courts and get going.  The team we were playing was the Slovenian Youth National Team.  They were a really solid team with incredible defense and strong outside hitters.  We attacked middle a lot since it seemed to be their only weakness and the match turned really competitive with us ending up winning in five.  Again we traded t-shirts and took group pictures together.  Everyone was exhausted from the travel and the match and we hurried back for a quick team meal and passed out in bed, tired from snowball fights, traveling and competitive volleyball.  Every team we play here is ready to go and very disciplined in their approach to each match.

Day Five, December 31st (New Year’s Eve in Maribor)
Kelsey Mahoney….the setter J

It was another slightly sunny but cold morning in Maribor, Slovenia, as we walked down the snow covered street to play a match against a pro team from Slovenia.  We already knew we were playing a team with 15 year olds to 35 year olds, but some of the best players in the country including several ex All Americans and members of the Slovenian National Team (Klub Nova KBM Branik).  I think we might have been a little too intimidated and after the 25-6 first game loss, we started to fight back.

The serving was as good as most of us had ever seen and the offense, although not complicated, certainly was efficient.  Their outside hitter seemed to know the blocking positions of every person’s hands as she totally used us the first game and a half.  Slowly we began to adjust and became more competitive as the match progress.  I’d like to say we ended up winning, but we were able to pull out one game 25-22 before they finished us off.  It might not have been our best outing, but we came here to try and learn more about the game of volleyball and they definitely schooled us in that!

After the match, we walked back to the lodge to eat lunch and then go play in the snow.  Our team meals are typically regional food and although it’s different we are trying everything they give us.  (I guess pancakes would be too much to ask)
As a practice for our evening activities we hiked about ½ mile up the ski slope in front of the lodge.  After 30 minutes of climbing with a lot of stops to rest and breath, we slid back down the mountain on our butts laughing all the way.  Coach told us to rest before the New Year’s activities so we all took naps or played spoons before the long hike back up the mountain. 

We had a team dinner with other teams from Florida and got to meet other players before the celebration began.  After dinner was over we bundled up in our warmest clothes and as a team we hiked the mile up the mountain.  About 1,300 feet almost straight up in the snow.  It took us an hour to reach the level where we were going and we all thought John (coach) was just putting us through a training exercise.  On top of the mountain we went inside the restaurant and began dancing with the locals, including a pretty amazing Slovenian 90 year old grandma.  Our biggest surprise was to see John come hiking up the mountain just after all our parents.  We all had bets that he wouldn’t even try, or that he would find a ride somehow.  At midnight we went out and saw more fireworks than we’ve ever seen on the 4th of July in the US.  From our view we could see all over the city and their were huge fireworks everywhere.  After the New Year hugs it was sliding all the way down the ski slope, with our parents, on our butts.  Everyone was laughing and sliding into each other, it was a night we will never forget!